Kids Crafts Thursday - Paper Plate Caterpillars

I had to return the paper plate craft book that I spoke about in my last Kids Crafts post to the library this week. But, I sort of remembered a caterpillar craft in it. So, I kinda just made up my own version. I'm sure theirs is better, but here's mine. :)
Here is what you will need:

-3 paper plates
-Paint and Paintbrushes
-Hole Punch
-Scissors
-Stapler
-Glue
-Googly Eyes (optional)
-3 Pipe Cleaners

Pre-Project Prep:
-As always, gather all your supplies, line your table with newspaper, and put smocks on your kids.
-Punch 2 holes in each plate about 1/4" from the edge and about 2" apart.


Get the kids and lets make some caterpillars!
1. Give the children the 3 plates and explain to them that one of them will be the caterpillar's head and the other 2 will be its body. Then let them paint them as desired.

2. Once all pieces are painted, determine which one will be the head and then with the 2 holes on the TOP, add a face to it. We used googly eyes and painted mouths, but you could do this with just paint, markers, pieces of paper glued on for the eyes/mouth, pom poms, or whatever you have on hand.

3. Decide which piece will go in the center, and then staple it to the head with the holes on the BOTTOM. Then, staple the last piece to the second piece...again with the holes on the BOTTOM.

4. Cut 1 pipe cleaner in half and then put it through the holes on the top of the caterpillars head. Fasten it by twisting the pipe cleaner around itself.

5. Cut the other two pipe cleaners and half and do the same thing, but these will go in the bottom holes as the caterpillars legs.

And you have a beautiful caterpillar...or two...

Isaac's:

Ryleigh's:

Project Review: Isaac wasn't into crafting when we did this project (if you can imagine THAT!).
So, I ended up doing most of it for him. As you can probably tell by the tail end of his caterpillar. Painting 3 whole paper plates is just too much for him. Ryleigh really enjoyed it, however. Overall, I would recommend this project. Just because Isaac didn't do all that great with it, doesn't mean all 2.5 year olds won't. I could totally see Ryleigh doing this when she was Isaac's age. I think I just need to accept that Isaac is not a 'crafty' child. Next time I do this project, I would probably use a smaller size paper plate for the head...just to make it more aesthetically pleasing.